Number of young Brits seeking work abroad doubles after Brexit: media reports

The number of youths wanting to leave the U.K. to work abroad doubled in the 48 hours after Britain voted to leave the EU, according to job search site Indeed.

Online searches for job openings in Dublin and Berlin were spiking, Mariano Mamertino, a spokesman for Indeed, told the Independent.

“Most job seekers looked to the very countries of the European Union that Britain will be leaving, with Ireland attracting the most searches. This could be early signs of British job seekers’ collective vote of no confidence,” Mamertino said.

“If Brexit is allowed to interrupt the flow of talent to the U.K., Britain’s loss will be Ireland’s gain if skilled workers are lured by its dynamic and English-speaking labor market,” he added.

The news comes as Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan on Monday warned that a deluge of passport applications from British citizens seeking Irish papers risked clogging up the system at its busiest time and causing further delays.

Brits are also looking outside of the EU. The Canadian embassy said that visits to its immigration, refugees and citizenship website rose by 325 percent above normal levels on Friday, the day the result of the U.K.’s EU referendum was revealed.

Related stories on these topics:

wi

Hehe a mere propaganda against UK! Such an unprofessional article. The writer has provided a couple of general examples and drawing catastrofic conclusions by doubling the numbers. A petty journalism!

Posted on 6/29/16 | 10:05 AM CET

Iwantout

Without giving the actual numbers this sounds very dramatic, a doubling of the number of young people considering working in the EU. Trouble is at the very end of the story it is revealed that the number searching in relation to Canada is far higher. On the run up to the referendum Hiring Lab found that only 1.5% of the entire UK working population were looking for work abroad (the lowest percentage in the entire EU), and of that 1.5% only 15% were looking towards the EU, the overwhelming majority were looking to the US, Australia and the Anglophone countries.

With youth unemployment in the EZ at 21.1% compared to 13.2% in the UK (10.2% against 5% for all unemployment) it seems unlikely there will be some sort of mass movement to the EU for work from the UK.

This seems to be one of those articles that is trying to build the idea that the young are distraught at the Brexit result when in reality the vast majority (64%) simply did not vote at all, they were effectively disengaged, not really a ringing endorsement of the EU.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 10:36 AM CET

CautiousCaribou

Judging by opinion polls it is clear that Britain’s youth did not vote to leave the EU. The rhetoric of the leave campaign was along the lines of “making Britain great again”. Since those that voted to leave are in the late stages of their careers (or retired) they won’t be the ones to do this job, and those who are expected to are leaving the country, what an abysmal failure. Such a decision needs to capture the hearts and minds of the youth as they will be the engine that drives the country forward, instead they’re all leaving and the country is left with no industry (TATA steel, Cadburys, Nestle…), no natural resources (North Sea Oil is on a downward trend), and now no highly-skilled workers. The young don’t want to carry this burden so we’re leaving the old to wallow in their decision.

The culprit Farage has already pinpointed his short-sightedness by gloating to the EU council, before the decision has been formally acted on, and before any indicators of the successfulness of this move are ready. The appropriate time to gloat might only be on his deathbed when the nation is a beacon of innovation and success, but quite honestly I’d be surprised if the Island didn’t bubble into the Atlantic and North Sea under the weight of this colossal mistake. Nobody has won, we’ve all lost, we wasted time, energy, effort and money on both sides of this pointless campaign only to come out divided and weaker as an economic power. This noisy shenanigan was the death-rattle of the UK as a world leading economy, the rest will follow suit.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 11:06 AM CET

me

Perhaps if they felt so passionately they should have bothered to vote in greater number. Then we’d have a clearer picture of what the all knowledgeable and wise British teenager thought.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 11:31 AM CET

Alan

Never heard of ‘Indeed’, who are they – is this just a reproduction of their press release?

Posted on 6/29/16 | 12:13 PM CET

ColinM

Yet another reassertion of the BBC’s version of the voting demographic – only poor, old, thick f@rts voting for leave.

Well, since the referendum I have been asking people and including my wife (MB.ChB) and myself (Ph.D) I have found a consultant surgeon and his wife (BA), a Ph.D physicist and his wife (BM. BCh (oxon)), two vicars (both Oxbridge) and two computer programmers (qualifications unknown but obviously not thick). All voted for leave and their ages span 28 to 62. Not statistically significant of course but curious how many exceptions to the ‘rule’ there have been.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 12:21 PM CET

FierEuropeen

You are very welcome in Europe 🙂 We will receive you with open arms.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 12:31 PM CET

ColinM

@FierEuropeen
“… We will receive you with open arms. ”
Sure, open arms, but – thanks to the inability of the Eurozone to create any outside of Germany – no jobs.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 1:14 PM CET

Tomasz

@ColinM: Europe is not just the eurozone. The low unemployment rates can be found in Germany (which you mentioned), Malta, Czech republic, Austria, the Netherlands, Estonia and Denmark. Those countries have combined approx. 125 mill. citizens, which is roughly twice as much as the UK. And they all have a lower youth unemployment rate. Of course you can look at 10 mill. Greeks which have more problem finding jobs, but luckily that’s not all of Europe. Plus, the young “brefugees” can still live in other countries which guarantee free movement of people, just like Switzerland, Iceland and Norway, which all show an unemployment rate below the UK; and also have way better future prospects. Anyway, who’s going to pay for unemployment benefits, pensions and the NHS, if they young citizens leave the country and there are no working migrants left? The Queen? Rich Etonians? Well, good luck.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 1:49 PM CET

Maria Valentina Umer

This is the best evidence the English economy has not functioned well for its youngsters. But this is well known for years! Look at Germany´s youth in the world-prized Dual-system of education (a combination of university studies and simultaneous employment protected by contract from the beginning). As far as I know, in the UK, it´s either Oxbridge for the elites, private business schools, mostly unaffordable, or youth unemployment. The UK´s elites neglected the educational infrastructure for the bright masses, as well as it did its NHS. The country concentrated on banking only, and that is, only in the City. Its biggest mistake. Appropriatelly, the most immediate consequence of Brexit will be the demise of the City as European financial center. I can´t say I regret it. An economy is not about banksters and their real-estate deals for the rich. Cameron is not alone responsible for this: he inherited this system from his predecessors. But he, as part of the moneyed elite, continued it. His children are surely well taken of, as well as the children of those who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Inequality of income and lack of opportunities for ALL citizens and residents is what makes a democracy.. Britain has utterly failed on this score for years.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 1:58 PM CET

Maria Valentina Umer

Brain drain is the worst that can happen to an economy and society. A state which invested in the education of the youngsters (did the UK?), and sees them leave, has a negative return on investment. Not to mention, of course, the non-numerical loss in separated families, the resulting lack of cohesion in communities, the possible estragement of yougnsters who make their lives elsewhere and may not come back to the roots.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 2:14 PM CET

ColinM

@Tomasz Well, you have to ask yourself if it’s so wonderful in Denmark and the Netherlands why is net migration to these countries less than half what it is for the UK? Also, if they were running UK levels of net migration would they still have such low unemployment levels?

As for pensions – thanks for your concern but we are all working to 67 before retirement anyway so I think the system will cope.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 4:23 PM CET

ColinM

@Maria Valentina Umer
“As far as I know, in the UK, it´s either Oxbridge for the elites, private business schools, mostly unaffordable, or youth unemployment. The UK´s elites neglected the educational infrastructure for the bright masses”

You should, perhaps, look into it a bit further then. Both my children went to Oxbridge and got there from standard “comprehensive” state schools like a high proportion of the Oxbridge intake these days. And, although the old system of grants was better, UK students do have access to loans to cover university fees and living costs. Also, it might surprise you to know, there are actually rather more than 2 universities in the UK.

Posted on 6/29/16 | 4:55 PM CET

Matthew McVeagh

“me
Perhaps if they felt so passionately they should have bothered to vote in greater number. …
Posted on 6/29/16 | 11:31 AM CEST”

Haha of course! All those who now want to go abroad should have voted several times! How can an individual want to work abroad when they aren’t lots of people? Yes this way of looking at things makes lots of sense! 😀